Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1887-08-31
CAMERON ON MALONE.
What He Thinks Of the Republican COM
mittee's Address.

ITS FAILURE TO SUGGEST PLAN FOR THE |
DEBT sETTLEMENT-THE WILL OF THE |
PEOPLE SUBSEQUENT TO, THE WILL OF
AN AUToCRAT.
Correspondence of the Richmond Dispatch
PETERSBURG, VA, Aug. "a, 1887.
Ex-Governor William E. Cameron grant |
ed an interview to the representatives of
the press here to-day, and his views were
obtained in reference to the address recent
" issued by the Republican State Central
Committee Discarding all preliminaries,
the interview began with the request that
Governor Cameron should give to the pub
lie his opinion of the Republican address
and its possible and probable effect upon
the impending campaign in the State.
AMMUNITION FOR LOCAL SPEAKERS.
81 do not think" said Governor Came
ron, "any importance attaches to it which
does not belong to such documents gener-
ally. They are mostly intended to furnish
ammunition for the local speakers Of the
political party to which they are addressed,
and this seems to serve that end measure
bly, well, particularly so in the arraignment
made when comparing the results OF DEM
ocratic administration of the State govern
ment with the Republican administration
which preceded it.
WHAT MAHONE'S ADDRESS FAILED IN.
The address is chiefly remarkable for the
absence of matter which some Republicans,
at least, had hoped it might contain-nota-
bly,, in regard to the public debt. A mere
promise that the Republican party, if called
again to power, will proceed promptly to
such measures as will effect final DISPOSE
ton of the problem-without any formula
ton or even indication of the methods by
which so desirable en- end is to be reached
with no suggestion of ways and means
for the removal of the stern difficulties
which now beset the scheme Of funding con-
tanned in the act of 1882, seems to me too
vague to attract any large amount of pub
lie faith, or to gain any recruits from the
Democrats with their pledge Of passive ad-
herence to
THE RIDDLEaERGER BILL.
It is very true that to the Republican
party and the laws passed by it in 1889 and
1883 are due, in my judgment, the credit
| for having relieved Virginia from a bank
ruptcy then present, and for having given
| to the Treasury six years of comparative
| immunity from invasion by the coupon,
thus making possible all that has been done
since by any Legislature or any Governor
in ft1rtherance of education, in care of the
lunatics, in execution Of the laws, in pro-
vision for manned Confederate soldiers, or
in the creation Of sinking fund The Re-
publicans found an empty treasury, heavy
floating debt, and p condition Of things IN
der which coupons absorbed, without re-
sistance, much the larger portion OF the pub
lie revenues. They reduced taxation; they
paid off the floating debt; they restored to
| the public schools their full quota of the
reyenuesi they extended and improved the
accommodations for the insane; they gave
vitality and impulse to every branch of
government, and in two years turned oyer
to Democratic Legislature surplus in
cash of more than 81, 100000. All this was
possible only as consequence of the Hid
dleberger bill.
| But matters such as these have not much
force 10 the public mind unless the benefits
are continuing. 4 halt has been called;
the wheels are clogged again. 1t may or
NAV not be tie fault or the misfortune of
the Democrats that the Riddleberger bill
has ceased to do the work. And with the
people that is not the important question.
] The question is-all previous legislation
| for the exclusion of the coupon having been
declared void by the Supreme Court OF the
United States-what can be done that will
gain the assent of the court OK Of ths cred
itors and who will do it? AS far as can By
seen, neither party has any plan, and any
allusion to the debt question in this can
vass must be based upon past experience
and not upon any hope which can be we'll
founded on the declaration either from
Roanoke or from Petersburg.
WHERE MAHONE MISSED IT.
| If either General Malone or Dir. Barbour
had any mode of lettering affairs in this
respect, it may be taken for granted they
would haye proclaimed it. Surely the peo-
pie cannot base any ardent expectation on
| the silence which both observe Gil this sub
iect, snd which is about the only point OF
which they seem to agree. 1t may and
probably will be said that General Malone
had and has a plan, but feared to promul-
| gate it in dread that the Democrats would
make haste to appropriate and make their
contest Oh it. But this cannot be SO, be-
| cause if the Democrats were to change base
after the Roanoke convention they would
lose as much as if standing to their guns,
and the Republican committee you'd have
been entirely safe in announcing their
scheme of debt settlement, having waited
until the Democrats had announced their
| platform. I must confess that the Repub-
| liean failure to set forth some proposition
| of machinery By which to arrive at set
Element on the basis Of the Riddleberger
bill is disappointment. Shat instrument
is now imperative, and the fight must be
who will be most loyal to an enactment
which has lost its operative power.
AUToCRATIC POWER.
| 1t had also been hoped by some Repub.
| licans that the State Commute would have
found it fit their sense of duty and Of policy
to give the people of the party freer reign
in the matter of convention, Of choosing the
county machinery, and of selecting theip
| local candidates than has of late been done.
There is nowhere, in my judgment, in the
confines of the United States an organiza-
ton so autocratic as that which rests in the
Executive Committee of the Virginia Re
publican party. 1t not only exercises
power absolute and unauestioned, without
conference Or consultation, but transmits
that power to it's local subordinates. 4
| free ballot and fair count, which forms the
cornerstone of the Republican platform,
knows no place in the conduct of the party
affairs. The State chairman, as affairs are
and have been since 1893 administered, is
himself the committee and the party. The
people are not allowed even the privilege
of organizing themselves and electing the
party officials in their respective neighbour
hoods The State Executive Committee
that is, the chairman tbeFeof-appGipts the
chairman of each city and county. AND IL
that chairman resides the power of calling
ana presiding over all conventions, not
Temporarily aRtil the people may elect, but
throughout the proceedings, end no dele
gate is recognized in general sonyeation
who does not come under the seal and SUI
prescription of this creature of the central
| creator.
THE WILL OF THE PEOPLE BEPEArEn,
The result of this may be-nay. has been
that minority. uader the lead Of the
local chairman, speaks the voice of the
party, and so the will Of the State Execu-
tive Committee is enforced while that Of
the people is defeated. And yet they
wonder that Repubicanism has not been
continuously victorious in Virginia since
1888 They wonder why freemen refuse
to be treated not as soldiers alone, but as
cnnscrints They wonder why man wiio |